


New Shampoo

by Badwxlf



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Scents & Smells, everyone is happy, sooooo domestic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 12:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11291070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Badwxlf/pseuds/Badwxlf
Summary: Rose asks the Doctor to smell her hair.





	New Shampoo

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: this is my first ever finished fic with an actual purpose... not much experience haha

"Doctor!" Rose shouted, running into the console room, grinning like mad. She clambered up to him, twisting him around to face her. "You'll never believe this—okay, maybe you will—but my _hair_ , smell my hair!" She turned her head and leaned toward him, essentially shoving her hair into his face.

The Doctor's hands flew to her shoulders, startled, lightly pushing her away. "Whoa! Rose, what—" he began, but Rose interrupted him, excitement lacing through her voice.

"Oh, go on, just do it!" She tousled her hair and shook her head. He rolled his eyes, bemused, but took a sniff anyway. Sensing it, Rose pulled back, grinning.

"Do you smell it, Doctor? Isn't it brilliant?" She took a handful of her hair and smelled it herself, before lifting her hand to reveal a glass bottle the Doctor hadn't noticed her holding when she came in. It was almost round and not very large, capable of holding around 350 mL, and filled with a thick, glimmering liquid that seemed to shift in shade the slightest bit whenever he looked away. The shape of the bottle vaguely reminded him of a sagging water balloon. Rose shook the bottle playfully, causing liquid to slosh about inside. "I bought it at the last planet we went to—y'know, that one with the massive village market with all those lanterns? What was it called? Naspore?"

"Gnisporah."

"Yeah!" she beamed. "That one! Anyway, before you start goin' on about safety or whatever," Rose eyed the look on the Doctor's face, "the guy sellin' it told me all about it. All the ingredients 'n' stuff. I even asked if there was anythin' harmful to humans in it, and he swore on his life that it was fine."

"You sure about that?" The Doctor asked, projecting suspicion he didn't quite feel.

"I'm still here aren't I?" Rose teased, as she fiddled with the bottle. "I might be ignorant, but I'm not stupid, Doctor. I learn from my mistakes."

He smiled at her, and she began again: "So, it's like this sort of special shampoo. You're supposed to rub it into your hair and it'll mix with your follicles or somethin' to release these magic... particles or whatever that'll react with your scent receptors." Not caring about the exact science of it, Rose twisted the lid off of the bottle and handed it to the Doctor, encouraging him to smell the liquid inside. "Now get this," she grinned, "it smells like nothin', absolutely _nothin'_ in the bottle, but soon as your hair dries it smells like your favorite scent ever! And it's different for everyone!"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows in question. She pressed the lid of the bottle into the palm of his hand, and he moved to put it back in the glass. "It's _amazin'_ ," she gushed, "To me, my hair smells like that beautiful homemade peach cobbler mum's friend Brook brought over during New Years once when I was 10. I'd completely forgotten about it until now!" Rose sniffed absentmindedly at a lock of her hair, recalling the memory, "Never got to try the cobbler ever again after that, though, she and mum had a little row and they never managed to patch things up."

She glanced back up at the Doctor, who now had the bottle balanced upright in the palm of his hand. He looked like he was itching to toss it into the air and catch it, like he usually did with that glittery rubber ball of his whenever he'd listen to her talk, before he caught her eye and starting gripping the bottle more securely. She continued, "I'd just asked Jack what he thought it was, and he said it smelled like some sort of exotic women's perfume he doesn't really remember the name of."

"Knowing Jack, he probably didn't pick up the perfume in some random intergalactic shopping mall, now did he?" Rose offered, smiling slyly.

The Doctor snorted in response. "Knowing Jack, he probably picked up a little more than some perfume," he said, and Rose snickered.

"But that's not what I wanted to ask you—what did it smell like to _you_ Doctor? I've bet you've smelled tons of things, what with 900 years of universe-travellin' and all. Out of every amazin' thing you've experienced in all your life Doctor, what're you smellin'?"

She had that expectant look on her face, genuinely curious, wanting to know more about him. It was an inquiry as innocent as guessing his favorite color. The Doctor's smile slowly fell. "I'm sorry, Rose. It must not be workin' on me," he said.

"What?"

"I don't smell anythin'. I'm plenty sensitive to scent myself, but, Rose, you don't smell like anythin'. It's just you."

Rose's shoulders slumped. "Oh, bullocks." She ran a hand through her hair, clearly disappointed. "Really?"

He nodded.

"Well," she sighed, "That's okay, Doctor. 'S'not important anyway."

He felt a twinge of guilt, looking at her, but he pushed it away when she smiled up at him. "You and your Time Lord biology, or whatever," she teased. "Two hearts, a respiratory bypass system, and Lord knows what else, defeated by some alien shampoo."

He shrugged, handing her back the bottle. "Guess there's a price for superior genetics. Can't have everythin'."

Rose scoffed, sticking out her tongue. " _Sure_. Ruinin' the fun, you are!" she called out, pointing at him and walking away. 

Over the next few days, after the first initial shampoo conversation, the Doctor almost completely forgot about it. Rose hadn't really brought it up with him again, and it would only occur to him that she might have still been using the strange concoction whenever he'd catch Jack with a lock of Rose's hair in his hands, chatting with her appreciatively before another adventure. He usually left them to their devices in that regard, chalking it all up as harmless. If it was killing her slowly, he would've found out by now, and who was he to take away something she genuinely seemed interested in?

The Doctor only started really questioning things when he had crashed into Jack one day, the TARDIS causing them all to lurch sideways after a particularly rough landing. He smelled it as soon as he came into contact with him, the familiar scent emanating from Jack tickling his nose. As soon as they had gotten up, The Doctor stopped Jack in his tracks. Rose ran off to grab another coat, having slightly tore her cardigan during the fall.

The Doctor questioned Jack, wondering where, all of a sudden, that ridiculous cologne he used to wear had run off to. Jack just smiled, skirting around the topic— _Oh, how sweet, Doc! You noticed!_ —before he brought up having recently borrowed some of Rose's "fancy" new shampoo. Jack beamed with pride, admitting how the shampoo was doing one hell of a job. It made him smell _irresistible_.

The Doctor only frowned, realization hitting him in slow, strong waves. He was left lingering near the console, stewing in the after effects of his new self-discovery, even as his two companions excitedly emerged onto a new planet. The special shampoo really must have been working after all, he thought, because Jack didn't smell like peach cobbler or exotic perfume.

He smelled like Rose.


End file.
